Three steps
by DrayPotter.tfls
Summary: First is acknowledgement, knowing something is different. Next is acclimation, getting used to the idea. Finally is acceptance, when your friends step up to the same page. Oliver Wood is there to help Harry through all three steps, but whats in it for him?
1. Acknowledgement

_**I know I have kinda abandoned my other stories and I'm sorry about that. WDEU will be finished on my next day off though! And I will pick up FITL soon I promise. In the mean time here is my newest story. It will be three parts (Uploaded one a day for the next three days assuming I don't get called into work.) So here is the beginning. Oh and I completely ignore everything past 5th year. And lastly this isn't mine and I make no money from it! What you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. Anyway enjoy and review please! ~Dray**_

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"Oh Harry. You are too young to know that for sure." Hermione said with a faux layer of understanding trying to mask her know-it-all nature.

"Yeah mate, I'm sure its just a phase. After all you are going to marry Ginny so you can be part of the family." Ron said with a grin.

"It's not a phase! If it was a phase kissing Seamus last week wouldn't have felt so good!" Harry yelled, startling the whole common room into silence. Glancing up he noticed that Seamus looked shocked and the Weasley twins were exchanging money.

Biting back a scream of frustration at the fact that no one believed him he stood up and took off out of the common room and continued out of the castle. His only thought at that point was to get to the quidditch pitch and hopefully be alone for a bit so he could process everything.

When he got there he flopped onto the grass with a sigh and draped an arm over his face, blocking out the sunlight. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the figure coming toward him from the air.

"Harry you alright?" Oliver asked sounding concerned.

"Other than being told I'm going through a phase, having my life planned out for me, and accidentally outing a fellow Gryffindor, yeah I'm just peachy." Harry said with a sigh as he dropped his arm and stared up at the sky.

"Sounds like you are having one hell of a Saturday morning." Oliver said with a chuckle as he lay on the grass next to Harry. "So which Gryffindor did you accidentally out?" he added teasingly.

"Well I on purpose outted myself. Or at least I tried too." He said evasively, already feeling bad enough about letting Seamus' secret slip. "Ron and Hermione both seem to think I am too young to know for sure and that I will snap out of it and marry Ginny." he groused before rolling away from Oliver, sure he would be shunned by him as well.

"Where are you going?" Oliver asked, trying not to sound hurt. He had started to get his hopes up when the younger man admitted he was gay but they were being crushed again when he rolled away.

"Well I would assume you would want nothing to do with me. It seems like everyone else feels that way." He said quietly, sounding hurt.

Pausing for a second to weigh the risks Oliver decided it was worth it and rolled over so he could wrap and arm around Harry and pull him closer. "Look it doesn't matter what they say. If they can't accept you for you then they aren't real friends, plain and simple. It is more common in the wizarding society for men to be gay anyway. Hermione wouldn't know because she isn't from here, and Ron is so ignorant he doesn't even know his left from his right." Oliver said as he rested his chin against Harry's hair. "I'm sure they will come around after Hermione goes to the library and talks to Ron about what she finds."

Harry sighed, "I guess you're right. I just expected my friends to have my back but I guess that was too much to expect. It seems like they argue with me at every turn." He said thinking over the past year.

Fifth year had almost been the end of their relationship as a trio. First there was the trial, where Hermione tried to defend the Ministry because they were "just doing their job". Next came Hermione and Ron being made perfects, thus taking time away from group time. Then Hermione tried to tell him that he shouldn't risk talking to Sirius and just keep his nose down, which Ron completely agreed with. And to round it all out there was the fiasco at the ministry where he finally faced Voldemort face to face and came out victorious, which Hermione said was a fluke of luck and Ron though was too cool for words. So there had been quite a bit of strain on the relationship, yet some how they had come out of it in one piece. Now this happened though and he didn't know if he wanted to keep fighting to be right.

"Earth to the Boy Who Lived." Oliver said poking his side and snapping him out of his thoughts. "Mind sharing what took your mind for a fly?" he said grinning at Harry.

"Just thinking of last year and all that came with it. Hard to believe its all over before it really began." He said, absentmindedly shifting so his head was nestled in the crook of Oliver's shoulder.

Oliver bit his lip to keep from sighing happily. This was the real reason he accepted the position at the school when Dumbledore contacted him at the end of July, so he could be close to Harry again. Something about the younger man drew Oliver to him, and for all the magic in the world Oliver was helpless to resist even if he wanted to. "Look if they really are your friends every thing will level out eventually, just quit worrying about it. I know last year must have been rough but you survived it and you will survive this too. Because that's who you are, a survivor."

"Oliver can I ask you something?" Harry said quietly after a few moments of just lying there thinking about what the older man had said.

"Of course." Oliver said, trying to keep his nervousness in check.

"Why are you so okay with me using you as a pillow? Most guys would run the other way." Harry said chuckling slightly as he derailed the previous conversation.

"I'm not most guys Harry, and neither are you. I mean come on who would willingly cuddle up with a gay quidditch and flying instructor." He said gently, scared to drop that bomb but knowing he had to lay his cards on the table.

Harry took a sharp intake of breath and looked up at him. "Gay? That explains the rumors about you and the twins" he said with a chuckle.

"Rumors?" Oliver asked curiously.


	2. Acclimation

_**I know this took me a week to get finished when I said it would only be a couple days. Blame it on work, a **_**_migraine, and Harry being difficult. But here it is finally! Please review so I know if I am on the right track! 3 Love you all!  
Oh and its not mine, all belongs to JK Rowling ~Dray_**

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Three hours and two butterbeers each later Harry and Oliver were fast friends, maybe even more as they continued to get to know each other in the Room of Requirement…

"So then I yelled that if I was going through a phase kissing Seamus wouldn't have felt so good and I swear the common room went the quietest I've ever heard it." Harry gasped laughing, finally realizing the hilarity in his coming out. "I seriously don't even think it got that quiet when we were studying for our OWLs last year and Hermione was giving detentions to anyone who breathed too loudly."

"What I don't get" Oliver started between bursts of laughter "is how they possibly thought you could be straight! I mean come on, no straight man could handle a broom the way you do!" He finished falling against Harry as he gasped for breath.

Harry looked at him for a second trying to figure out what he meant and then it dawned on him and he joined Oliver in laughing so hard he couldn't support himself. "You… are… horrible!" he gasped as he swiped tears of laughter from his face. "And for the record you are just as good with a broom as I am if not better."

"You are just as bad! After all you got what I was saying!" Oliver shot back with a grin "And I am not sure if I should take that as an insult or a compliment."

"Not right away!" Harry protested laughing as he fell in against Oliver. "Also take it as a compliment." he said with a grin.

"Fine, have it your way." Oliver chuckled and rolled his eyes. "You never explained the rumors about me and the twins by the way."

Harry grinned up at him. "Oh so you want to know about those rumors?" He said as he moved to rest his head on Oliver's shoulder.

"Yes I want to know about those rumors." Oliver said as he tried not to overtly react to Harry suddenly seeking closeness with him without Oliver making the first move.

"Well there was the one about why you three were almost always the last back to the common room after practice. It had something to do with putting brooms away together if I remember correctly." Harry replied cheekily. "Oh and there was the one that started when George asked you for your broomstick polish because he couldn't find his."

Oliver gaped at him for a second trying to wrap his mind around what Harry had said then he started cracking up laughing. "Do you Gryffindors have nothing better to do than gossip like old women?" he wheezed as he tried to get his breath.

"I don't think we do. I mean really who wants to do their homework?" Harry deadpanned trying not to laugh.

"True." Oliver said with a snicker. "I mean if I had the choice between homework and gossip I think I know which I would choose."

"Especially if its potions." Harry said making a face.

Oliver suppressed a laugh as he leaned his head against Harry's. "Potions isn't that bad. It was charms that just about did me in.""Charms is easy." Harry said with a grin.

"You have Hermione." Oliver shot back

"You have a point." Harry said with a chuckle.

He was enjoying the friendly banter, lately Hermione and Ron had both been involved with their significant others and hadn't had time for him which meant a loss of the playful banter. The cuddling was new though, and something he definitely liked. In fact he thought he might like it more than he liked the banter which made him wonder how much he would like other physical activities with Oliver . Shaking his head to clear the thoughts dancing through it that were starting to wander into dangerous territory he looked up at Oliver.

"Ya know you make a really good pillow." He said after a bit of quiet as he shifted so his head was in Oliver's lap and he was flat on his back looking up at the other man. "Gives me a good place to think things over." He mused as he started to drift back into his thoughts.

Oliver shifted slightly so he could throw an arm across Harry's stomach and smiled down at him. "Ya know I could get used to this." He said cautiously, not wanting to scare the boy away.

"Ya know, so could I." Harry said smiling up at him softly, not entirely trusting the fragility of the moment and the newness of how he was feeling.

Oliver was at a loss for words, or even coherent thoughts. There was no way this was actually happening. He had to be dreaming that the boy he had watched grow up and change into the man he now loved was laying on his lap saying he was comfortable and could get used to spending time like this. That was the only explanation. Either that or really good drugs, but since they were in Hogwarts the drugs weren't likely. So that left dreaming, and he truly hoped he wasn't.

"Earth to Oliver." Harry teased after a few moments of letting Oliver dance through his thoughts.

"Hmm? What's up?" Oliver asked, shaking himself back into focus.

"I asked if this was a date? Or maybe you would you like to go on one this weekend? Ya know sixth and seventh years can go to the village any weekend they want now that the war is over." Harry said shyly.

Oliver blinked rapidly at him. "Date?" he asked sounding stunned. Yup he was definitely dreaming. He almost had to be at this point.

Harry moved to sit up and find his mysteriously missing shoes. "I guess I read the signs wrong, I'll just be going now." He said as he found the shoes and stood to leave.

Without a thought or a breath Oliver grabbed his hand and pulled Harry back so he landed on Oliver's lap in a rather ungraceful sprawl. "You aren't going anywhere love." He said quietly as he leaned in to kiss him, throwing caution to the wind and possibly sanity with it. When their lips touched it felt like the world around Oliver stopped completely.

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_**R&R please ~Dray**_


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